My 67 4000 diesel has been running perfectly until last week when it started losing power and missing. #3 injector was leaking, so I tightened it, but the engine continued to run poorly. I replaced the injector, but that didn't help. Today, I replaced the fuel filter. It only has about 20 hours on it in two years, but the old filter was full of gritty black sludge. Is this normal? After I replaced the filter, it ran great for about 5 minutes and now it back to missing. It's my first diesel and I'm still trying to figure it out. Thanks for your help.
- Thread starter PhilMo
- Start date
Larry NCKS
Well-known Member
Oh boy! That sounds like black algae. If it is it'll eat steel. I'd drain, flush and refill the tank and change the filter again. See if that gets you going. Find some biocide to add to the new fill as well. I've had black algae eat a 400 series IH injection system up. It's not pretty.
Destroked 450
Well-known Member
- Location
- Harned, Ky
If you have algae in the tank the inlet screen on the fuel valve is probably stopped up not letting much fuel to the filter.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Get some snake oil hidden in a container with a Power Services (brand) label and read the label....they have grey bottles and white bottles and each has it's intended use.....cheap insurance I assure you. All farm stores and some AP stores around carry it including wallyworld. I think my last purchase was a quart or so for about 8 bucks, treated 250 gallons....cheap insurance.
thepumpguysc
Member
FOLLOW THE LABEL DIRECTIONS is the best advise..
I've seen a fella double/triple dose his system w/ ?? {something}
& it ate the pump from the inside out.!!!
I've seen a fella double/triple dose his system w/ ?? {something}
& it ate the pump from the inside out.!!!
Fairtax4me
New User
Like they said, that's algae in the fuel. You need to drain the tank and remove any sludge that's in the tank, change the filters again and flush out the lines from the tank to the filter. Refill with fresh fuel and use an algecide treatment. Power Service makes one that is commonly available, or your local Ag supply should have something.
If you have a storage tank on site, you need to check and treat your storage tank for algae as well. Make sure your pickup tube in the tank doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the tank and that the end your pump is on is tipped slightly uphill, so any sediment will settle towards the opposite end of the tank.
Getting rid of algae in the fuel can be a process once it has started growing. Best practice is to use a fuel treatment in your storage tank every time it gets filled. Or every 4-6 months depending on how much fuel you use. If you're using pump fuel from a local station, try to find out how often they have their tank re-filled. Sometimes smaller gas stations don't get diesel tanks refilled for several weeks or months.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
That's why I like PS products. They have one with storage written right on the bottle, another for fuel injectors are the two main ones I use, one is a
grey bottle, the other white. I use 3 ea 55 gallon drums on an old Chevy p/u bed, made up trailer. Sits under a car port thing. Keep the ones sealed
that aren't being used and the pump sorta seals that one. I use dyed farm fuel. When I fill up, I shine a light down in the tanks and see nothing but
clear, red fuel.....1 or so inch in the bottom of the tank the pump can't reach. Absolutely nothing else. When it's time to refuel just hook to the trailer
and go to town.
grey bottle, the other white. I use 3 ea 55 gallon drums on an old Chevy p/u bed, made up trailer. Sits under a car port thing. Keep the ones sealed
that aren't being used and the pump sorta seals that one. I use dyed farm fuel. When I fill up, I shine a light down in the tanks and see nothing but
clear, red fuel.....1 or so inch in the bottom of the tank the pump can't reach. Absolutely nothing else. When it's time to refuel just hook to the trailer
and go to town.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Since the fuel filter is micron rated, anything smaller gets through. With the size of the problem you had, no doubt small particles that made it through the filter have accumulated. I'd go to each injector fuel inlet and and crack it while running, listen for the engine limp and let it bleed for a couple of minutes. Then lock it down, experience the engine recover and go to the next one.
If that doesn't work I'd get a good algae cleaner (Power Services has one) and load up the fuel tank with it....like 10x the normal amount specified on the bottle. Give it several hours and some sitting to work and lf that cleans it out, once it has I'd dilute the tank fuel back to something more normal. One way would be to drain the tractor's tank back into the storage tank and refill the tractor.
If that doesn't work, go and have your injectors cleaned......what I would do if I had your problem.
If that doesn't work I'd get a good algae cleaner (Power Services has one) and load up the fuel tank with it....like 10x the normal amount specified on the bottle. Give it several hours and some sitting to work and lf that cleans it out, once it has I'd dilute the tank fuel back to something more normal. One way would be to drain the tractor's tank back into the storage tank and refill the tractor.
If that doesn't work, go and have your injectors cleaned......what I would do if I had your problem.
A quick update on the diesel fuel problem. I flushed the tank until it seemed clean, put in about 3 gallons of fresh diesel treated with a NAPA product, put on a new filter. Ran great for about 10 minutes then started missing and losing power. Back to the barn. Filter showed fine dark particles so I replaced it, drained the tank and refilled with diesel treated with "Killem". When I turned the fuel back on and tried to bleed the filter, it wouldn't overflow out the top plug. I took the filter assembly off and found some passageways clogged. After cleaning and reassembling, all seems well. I cut knee-deep, thick grass for about an hour without a hiccup, so I'm pretty confident I've got the worst of it behind me. I'm considering a new tank this winter. I'd like to rewire it and get everything working. I wrestled an 8N around my 20 acres for 35 years until I got this '67 4000. It's taken some retraining, and now I wish I'd had something like this from the start.
Thanks for your help and advice. I thought I'd really screwed it up.
Thanks for your help and advice. I thought I'd really screwed it up.
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